The Standoff
by Marina Floyr
Summary: Severus and Minerva have an old fashioned, eloquent, snide, rivaling, slightly insulting battle of words. Who comes out on top?


Disclaimer

Disclaimer: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter, and Gryffindor n' Slytherin are the copyrighted godlike creations of J.K. Rowling

Dedication: This one goes to Jen, who showed me how absolutely cool of a character Snape is, and who offered the laugh of approval at the end ;)

A/N: This was originally written for insertion someplace insignificant, in the middle of a songfic, as only dialogue, till I got astounding homeroom visuals for it as a scene that could stand alone. Um...I've secretly always wanted to write something in which professors get somewhat immature and yet remain in character. Enjoy.

**The standoff**

Light of the mid-afternoon shone brilliantly through the tall window, illuminating a streak of flagstone down the otherwise dim 2nd floor corridor. A long shadow stretched within the glimmer of the ray, cast by a solitary figure with his hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the horizon above the forest. He hadn't moved, spare his coal eyes, fixed upon a skittering point in the sky.  
  
It was a thin flutter of robes on a broomstick, flying beyond the boundaries of the quidditch pitch, or the flying fields, and pitching itself through a series of high speed whirling moves. If Harry Potter had known he had a watching eye on him, the watcher was sure he'd have pulled even more risky stunts.  
  
And then a noise, the sound of footsteps coming briskly down the deserted hall. Severus barely had to turn his head to notice the emerald green swish of robes. Flatly, without bothering to turn, one hand lifted to gesture accusingly out the window.   
  
"He's been up there 30 minutes now, Minerva"  
  
McGonagall shifted to his right side hastily and squinted upwards, half-shielding her eyes from the bright glare.  
  
"Oh, you mean Potter. Yes, I'm well aware, Hooch has already informed me." There was an agitated silence for reply, and a swift drop of the arm. She sighed. This was to be another soured explanation "Potter is expected to be a great deal upset under these circumstances. I believe you were present when the staff discussed the strain of pressure-"  
  
"-Which every earthly being has to deal with without special exceptions." Snape's voice was clipped, distant, as his chin found a cynical angle. "Funny then, how all the Hufflepuffs aren't offered an aerial free-for-all as well."  
  
The deputy headmistress returned one of her purse-lipped frowns, stepping back into the recesses of shadow. He was vying for another relay of arguments, wasn't he, she should have known to expect another irritable mood. Since the end of the third task, Severus seemed to be punctuating his caustic side.  
  
"Funny," she echoed, "how you empathize so suddenly with a house other than your own." Minerva adjusted her glasses as her characteristic rational tone set in. "It's a boy on a broomstick. I don't see the harm in-"  
  
"Tossing this year's restricted flying policy out the window for the sake of Potter's emotional needs?" Snape interjected yet again, voice sharpening this time. Severus hated hypocrisy. Life, death, all sense of justice was a double-edged sword, a serpent swallowing its tail. But it didn't matter. He hadn't outgrown the game of one-upmanship, even amongst his colleagues. His lower lip twitched into a chiding smirk "Minerva, why do you develop this unnecessary urge to shield his from problems that he should learn to deal with on his own? To my knowledge, the sky has not opened up and commanded 'May Harry Potter never know the full extent of unsoothed grief, or pangs of guilt, or burns of envy"  
  
A single brow raised, and McGonagall made a cool point of hovering over his left shoulder. She too, found a matching smug smile.  
  
"Of course we should proceed with precautions, especially with those burns of envy...lest he turn out something like you"  
  
Snape bristled as her hand laid on his forearm, and moved impulsively aside with a sharp flinch. She'd gone and done it, she'd purposely put the left sleeve into play. The mark beneath it still stung in a way no material could muffle, nor could the shudder that followed contact. His eyes locked dead ahead on the glass, and then melted with a fiery flash of inspiration, lip curling.  
  
"Ah, so now lets make life easy for him, so that he can be free to live out the grand legacy of his fath-"  
  
And now it was McGonagall's turn to silence the previous speaker, but this time she did it with only a swift look of piercing authority. Resentful as he was of that mastered warning glare, Severus was momentarily shaken.  
  
"Enough of that." she snapped curtly, her features showing the stony hardening of pride. Pride of what Gryffindor had sent forth into the wizarding world for years "Enough. He's seen more than most already, in fourteen short years, but he's still just a boy"  
  
"A child indeed" Snape mused with a subtle sneer, lapsing into a decisive quiet for a moment as he watched the figure outside pull his firebolt into a brilliant dive, skimming the golden lawns. "Tell me Minerva, if Potter is indeed 'gifted' enough to slay basilisks, outrace dragons and outwit the dark lord four times and counting, what the devil keeps him a boy by your standards?"  
  
And he had let his temper mount far above the point of ridicule, especially as McGonagall loosened a soft chuckle from her lips, stepping between the Slytherin house head and the window.  
  
"A solution that perhaps you could help us distinguish. Potter stops being a child either the day he graduates from these hallowed halls of learning, or till the day he earns himself over a C minus in Potions." she clucked softly, and began working her way back down the corridor, voice sweeping away with an echoed satisfaction "Of course, stretching your own 'exceptions' to include an unbiased grading policy, that would be beyond your pride, wouldn't it?"   
  
She'd won...she'd won magnificently, in the doubled-over, flip-your-hooked-nose way Gryffindor has been rivaling Slytherin for ages. Stormy anger crossed Snape's face as he spun on his heel, serpent's tongue lashing back in a delayed reaction as it ground out the only possible hiss of outdone fury.  
  
"Shrew! Bloody Damned b-" Severus caught himself in a tense clenching of fists as her robes kept bustling down the corridor with unshaken ease. He whirled back around with sulky crossed arms, deposited his fists within the recesses of his black sleeves, and scowled out the window with a murmur of frustration  
  
"Bloody hell."  


A/N: and so Minnie skillfully shows Sevvie up big time! The end! Whadda yas think? 


End file.
